Netherlight Crucible and Relic Customization in Patch 7.3

The Netherlight Crucible provides additional relic and artifact customization in Patch 7.3. Here is our early look at the new artifact talent tiers, how to unlock the crucible, and the Light and Shadow abilities.

This is an early news preview based on PTR testing. For our definitive Netherlight Crucible guide and links to Crucible recommendations for all specs, please visit this link instead.

Unlocking the Crucible

In addition, the Crucible will not unlock until the third week of Patch 7.3 so things are staggered. This unlock is account-wide.

To make things easier, there is no quest/attunement process for the third relic in Patch 7.3. You simply get it at 110.

Netherlight Crucible Tiers

To get started, click on one of the relics to "Attune" it. This will open up a three-tier trait tree. Based on PTR testing, the traits within each tier are chosen via RNG, not via spec, relic slot, or relic effect. We tested this by repeatedly socketing the same crafted relic and seeing different abilities appear on the PTR.

Tier 1 simply requires you to have an Artifact Weapon equipped--no additional requirements.

To unlock Tier 2 and Tier 3, your Artifact must have a certain number of Artifact Traits unlocked, so this serves as a secondary bonus to putting more points into Concordance of the Legionfall. There are no additional forms of currency needed to spend on a trait:

First Relic: Tier 2 at 60, Tier 3 at 69

Second Relic: Tier 2 at 63, Tier 3 at 72

Third Relic: Tier 2 at 66, Tier 3 at 75

Tier 1

Tier 2

There are two options for each relic slot's Tier 2 path, which are randomly chosen from the abilities below. Each trait option has 3 ranks. Each Relic Tier comes with one shadow and one light trait option.

Shocklight: While Concordance of the Legionfall is active, your critical strike is increased by 2500.

Secure in the Light: Your harmful spells and abilities have the chance to deal 155000 additional damage and grant you Holy Bulwark, absorbing up to 77500 damage over 8 sec.

Infusion of Light: Your harmful spells and abilities have the chance to deal 116000 additional Holy damage. Your helpful spells and abilities have a chance to heal for 116000.

Light's Embrace: When you take damage, you have a chance to generate Light's Embrace, stacking up to 5 times. Light's Embrace heals for 29000 damage over 6 sec.

Tier 3

Tier 3 has three options per relic slot, so nine options total. Each option allows you to further upgrade a specific minor trait for your Artifact. It looks like one trait will be connected to the Shadow path, another to the Light path, and the middle "Neutral" trait can be reached via either path.

RNG Traits

The Artifact Crucible tiers are completely RNG - the set of Tier 2 and Tier 3 traits associated with a relic is determined at the time of socketing it. You cannot farm specific relics hoping for a certain crucible option.

There is a preview option on the relic calculator UI so you can determine if that specific relic is worth socketing, but it makes the relic soulbound and untradable.

The one protection against RNG is that the Tier 3 traits cannot roll the same trait as the initial one on your relic.

Blizzard Explanations

Q: Is the Netherlight Crucible supposed to be fully RNG on Tier 2 and Tier 3?A: The artifact traits in your weapon have always been a steady form of progression. However, the relics you slot in your weapon is subject to RNG -- the loot might not drop or other factors.

Well what's a problem with relics? Relics point to a specific index and for each spec that can use that relic, that specific index will map to a specific trait. If a holy relic is a bad trait for one spec and they wanted to change it, that would change the relic for all the other specs that could use it, because of the way the index works.

They wanted to fix that with a system that gave relics a random second trait in 7.2, but it was pulled at the last second. This was supposed to help classes that were searching for specific relics but was determined to be too random. The Netherlight Crucible is slightly different; while it has some randomness, players will not be able to choose their worst trait because they simply won't pick it.

Q: Why is the Netherlight Crucible good, but Reforging bad?A: Reforging wasn't great because of hit and expertise management -- e.g. when you got a ring and had to reforge 10 other items because of it. They don't think it was an interesting system, since if an item didn't have your best two stats, you simply just reforged to your best stats. In some cases, it was hard to evaluate upgrades as well.

Q: How much of the new Artifact Power will work in 7.3 PvP?A: The first trait from the Netherlight Crucible, Netherlight Fortification, on each relic will work in PvP, but that only equates to a fraction of a percent upgrade since it applies before the scaling. The remaining traits will not work in rated PvP.

Blizzard

Hey guys!

So, after yesterday's Q&A, it's become apparent that there's still some confusion about the Netherlight Crucible and how it works. We've been keeping an eye on your discussions about the topic, and wanted to give some explanations where we can, as well as open up a thread for any additional questions you may have.

Q: How do the Relic "talents" unlock?

A: As your Artifact increases in level (by spending Artifact Power), your Relic slots will level up as well. When you first unlock the Crucible, you'll have access to the first additional trait (a +5 increase to your Artifact's item level) in each slot. The second row unlocks at Artifact level 60, 63, and 66 (for the left, center, and right Relic slots respectively), and the third and final row unlocks at Artifact level 69, 72, and 75. This should all be pretty apparent when you look at those slots in-game, but may not be showing clearly via datamined info.

Q: What did you mean by "it can't double roll a trait"?

A: Just that you will never be able to upgrade a Relic to increase the same Artifact trait twice. If your Relic already has a bonus rank of Wrath of the Ashbringer on it, that trait will not be one of the three options presented in the bottom row of the Crucible's upgrade tree.

In other words, there's no risk of having your Wrath of the Ashbringer relic be "ruined" by not rolling a second bonus to Wrath of the Ashbringer, because that could never have happened in the first place. However, if you get a relic without Wrath of the Ashbringer, there's now a chance that it'll gain it from the Crucible.

Additionally, those three options will always be unique; it won't, for example, give you the "choice" between Deflection, Deflection, or Deflection. Aside from making sure you always have options, this means that your odds of having your favorite trait appear on a Relic you'd otherwise have discarded are actually pretty decent.

Q: How do the ranks for the first two rows work?

A: There are no such ranks. We think this is coming from some confusion about how the Netherlight Crucible is showing up in datamining, versus how it actually operates in-game. Once you've unlocked a row in the Crucible, you just select the option you like, and that's it - there's no additional leveling up of those options beyond that.

For those peeking into the data (or anyone else who might be curious): this is because of how we built the system to allow the unlockable effects to stack between each relic. It's just a subtle behind-the-scenes optimization on our end.

Hopefully that will help clear the air about how the Netherlight Crucible works, but we're sure you have more questions, so ask away and we'll do our best to answer what we can! We'll aim to provide an update sometime next week. Thanks!TLDR:

Before the patch, if you get a relic that doesn't have the trait you want, you throw it away.

After the patch, if you get a relic that doesn't have the trait you want, you can plug it into the Netherlight Crucible and maybe get it anyway.

That's about all there is to it!

Blizzard

Okay, here's a first pass at some answers. Thanks for all the discussion so far.

Q: Why are you adding this system? What’s with the RNG?

A: The Netherlight Crucible (aside from being an important part of the 7.3 storyline) is intended to help with an issue with Relic availability that players have been reporting for some time now. As Ion explained during our last Q&A, there are technical issues with the way Relics were built that limit which bonus traits can be available from raids. This has caused a number of raiders to feel as though their best bet is to run Mythic Keystone dungeons constantly in the hopes of having a Relic with their ideal bonus trait drop (and Titanforge for a high item level).

Those who were following development of Patch 7.2 may recall an earlier take on an improvement for this issue, where we experimented with adding a single, randomized second bonus trait to Relics. Ultimately, we decided that was the wrong approach, and wanted a system that put a little more control in players’ hands. So, while the Netherlight Crucible does still have an element of randomness, it presents you with several options to choose from.

To be clear: we believe that having some element of randomness is important. Our goal was not to simply allow players to choose the precise bonus traits they wanted (you already do that, more or less, when spending Artifact Power). We still want there to be those exciting moments where a Relic gives you a great outcome. The Netherlight Crucible is intended to make Relics more valuable on average, not to make all Relics be equal value.

Q: Will I be able to trade Relics with other players to see who gets the best options at the Crucible?

A: No. Previewing a Relic at the Netherlight Crucible will bind it to your character and remove the ability to trade it. This is because those trait options don’t actually exist on the Relic until you attune it to the Crucible, in a process similar to enchanting a piece of gear. It also prevents raid teams from feeling like they need to send everyone who might be interested in a Relic back to the Vindicaar before continuing.

Q: Will the Netherlight Crucible work on Relics acquired prior to 7.3 release?

A: Yes. However, keep in mind that it will take some time (likely several weeks) to unlock the later stages of the Netherlight Crucible, where the additional bonus traits come in. We don’t expect that stockpiling Relics prior to 7.3 will give any real advantage in practice.

Q: Doesn’t this just mean I’ll want my best two traits on each Relic now?

A: For the hardcore min/maxer, yes, there will still be a “best” outcome for your Relic configuration. However, there are now more Relics that can achieve that state (as Relics with your second-best trait can now roll your best trait at the Crucible), and you’ll encounter fewer “bad” Relics along the way.

Q: Why do I have to go back to the Netherlight Crucible to upgrade my Relic? Didn’t you want to get away from mechanics like that?

A: Players often compare this to the old Reforging system, and our dislike of having to visit a vendor after each and every upgrade. That hasn’t changed. The Netherlight Crucible only affects Relics – you won’t need to visit the Crucible every time you pick up a new pair of boots.

Comment by Sielinth

Comment by Gronker

Wait, is this worded wrong and it's actually attuning/upgrading the relic slot, or is it really specific to the relic currently equipped?

Comment by Jimbrooks

on 2017-07-18T22:29:49-05:00

I really like this. So depending on how many traits I have invested into my weapon will grant me access to upgrades? Is this right? This is pretty cool!

Comment by lovelywaz

on 2017-07-18T22:42:03-05:00

I remember the times when we just picked up a random weapon and smacked internet dragons with it right away !

Comment by krevantis

on 2017-07-18T22:58:21-05:00

Wait, is this worded wrong and it's actually attuning/upgrading the relic slot, or is it really specific to the relic currently equipped?

Looks to be the slot itself, not the relic, based on the wording of one of those images.

Comment by kodora1316

on 2017-07-18T23:10:55-05:00

Wait, is this worded wrong and it's actually attuning/upgrading the relic slot, or is it really specific to the relic currently equipped?

Looks to be the slot itself, not the relic, based on the wording of one of those images.

Oh, good. Upgrading the slot makes a LOT more sense.

Comment by lonesamurai1

on 2017-07-18T23:16:13-05:00

Does this sound like reforging to anyone else?

Comment by jj3000125

on 2017-07-18T23:18:23-05:00

Does this sound like reforging to anyone else?

Nope

Comment by omedon666

on 2017-07-18T23:19:08-05:00

This is almost getting to a LOTRO level of insanity with the systems baked into these weapons... that we'll be abandoning in a year haha!

Comment by perculia

on 2017-07-18T23:53:18-05:00

So there are slots you can upgrade to higher ranks, associated with each relic.

Then each rank has various trait-like abilities, that are either Light or Shadow related, that come with 3 ranks.

My head is kind of hurting.

Comment by Jimbrooks

on 2017-07-18T23:54:43-05:00

This is almost getting to a LOTRO level of insanity with the systems baked into these weapons... that we'll be abandoning in a year haha!

It's definitely going to be interesting what they are going to do to keep player power and add to it in the next xpak. Losing a lot of what my weapon does for me for a new thing is going to be really hard to adjust to. I am looking forward to, and also dreading the future.

Comment by Joshmaul

on 2017-07-18T23:56:03-05:00

This is almost getting to a LOTRO level of insanity with the systems baked into these weapons... that we'll be abandoning in a year haha!

Much as I try to dissuade people from their cynicism, in this case, the point is well made - all the hoopla about artifacts, and they'll be abandoned to the dustbin of history in the new expansion (whatever THAT might be at this point).

Comment by bogzy

on 2017-07-19T00:07:32-05:00

This is almost getting to a LOTRO level of insanity with the systems baked into these weapons... that we'll be abandoning in a year haha!

Much as I try to dissuade people from their cynicism, in this case, the point is well made - all the hoopla about artifacts, and they'll be abandoned to the dustbin of history in the new expansion (whatever THAT might be at this point).

What makes you guys think they will abandon the system? Progress systems like this are here to stay. Maybe you wont progress your weapon next expansion but there will be some progression system similar to it.

Comment by StillAliveGuild

on 2017-07-19T00:25:38-05:00

We're two steps away at this point from disgaea-levels of complexity where we'll do a challenge mode dungeon INSIDE the weapon to upgrade it further, better buffs being based on your time in the dungeon and enemies killed.

Blizz, stahp.

Comment by Gronker

on 2017-07-19T00:30:10-05:00

So there are slots you can upgrade to higher ranks, associated with each relic.

Then each rank has various trait-like abilities, that are either Light or Shadow related, that come with 3 ranks.

My head is kind of hurting.

Goodness, that is some confusing design even with a new UI element for it. I'd almost prefer the scrapped "relics can now have a second trait" than this. I guess we'll have to see how it evolves over the rest of testing, which will likely be 1-1.5 months.

Comment by Gronker

on 2017-07-19T00:31:23-05:00

This is almost getting to a LOTRO level of insanity with the systems baked into these weapons... that we'll be abandoning in a year haha!

Much as I try to dissuade people from their cynicism, in this case, the point is well made - all the hoopla about artifacts, and they'll be abandoned to the dustbin of history in the new expansion (whatever THAT might be at this point).

What makes you guys think they will abandon the system? Progress systems like this are here to stay. Maybe you wont progress your weapon next expansion but there will be some progression system similar to it.

It's easy to expect that progress in the system will be wiped clean too, which I believe is the point of the cynicism.

Comment by pilot3931

on 2017-07-19T00:37:06-05:00

About the most interesting - tier 3 - no information?

Comment by perculia

on 2017-07-19T00:45:42-05:00

About the most interesting - tier 3 - no information?

We couldn't unlock it yet on the PTR and it just seems to be +1 to a bronze trait (chosen somehow - trying to figure out a pattern). We're also not sure if you can eventually get all light and shadow things for each relic, or have to pick a path.

Comment by broken0chaos

on 2017-07-19T00:49:21-05:00

This seems to be an awful design. It's confusing and over-engineered. It's going to confuse the crap out of most normal players, many of whom are absolutely going to think that they're upgrading the relics (when it's the slots).

You now will need to understand the relationship of: artifact knowledge to artifact power, artifact power to artifact level, artifact level to relic socket rank, relic socket rank to relic trait level (and don't mix up relic traits with artifact traits!), ... It's too much complexity presented in too much of a "one thing tacked onto the next" way. Flatten out how it works, so that the systems aren't so hierarchically dependent on each other.